The first thought that struck me after reading Wallace D Wattles’ classic book The Science of Getting Rich was that there was no reason that I should not become rich too. I can truly say that before that moment I had never really thought about the possibility. But when I digested what Wattles described as the cause of wealth, I realised that it was a very real possibility for me.

On reading the book, I had to agree with the author that such things as location, business, capital, education and so on – the things people normally associate with becoming successful – simply were not the causes of wealth. The book opens with a reasoned discussion on exactly that point; and I found the argument made by Wattles to be absolutely compelling.

Once he has dispelled many of the myths relating to the creation of wealth, he reveals his own assessment of the real cause which he says involves doing things in the right way. He draws this conclusion because there are people making money in every field of activity, just as there are people losing money doing the same things.

Anyone, he says, who can learn to do things in this certain way can become rich – what a promise that is! However, in his explanation of how to do things in the certain way that always produces results, there are a few things he only lightly touches-on. For example, he never says that you need to be in business for yourself, but it is heavily implied.

He says that you need to give every person with whom you deal more in use-value than you take in cash-value. Theres a key principle right there, of course, concerning over-delivering, but it strikes me that the spirit of the language is naturally directed toward people who trade in some way i.e. those in business for themselves.

It doesn’t take much thinking to conclude that, to become rich, you need to be in business. This is simply because whatever you do for a living – your job – has a market-value; and that’s what you are being paid. You will never be paid more than your market-value because it does not make economic sense for your employer to do so.

By contrast, your earnings are unlimited when you are working for yourself. After all, nobody is going to come along and tell you that you are not allowed to earn more than your current income. You can give yourself a raise anytime you want by becoming more effective in your business; and there has never been a better time to start because of the opportunities available right now on the internet.

It almost seems as if Wallace D Wattles had written the Science of Getting Rich specifically for the age of the internet. Naturally, he didn’t, but despite that, the principles he advocates do translate to doing business on the internet extremely well indeed. I firmly believe that, at the present time, there is a real opportunity for the average individual to become wealthy by applying these ideas to doing business online.